Endoscopic surgery is performed through a plurality of relatively small incisions, using special surgical instruments and a microscope with a tiny camera. This type of surgery tends to reduce the length of postsurgery recovery, because the small incisions typically heal faster than do the larger incisions required in other types of surgery.
To perform endoscopic surgery, the surgeon makes a number of small incisions in the body, inserts into the incisions the surgical instruments and the microscope into the abdominal cavity through the incisions and manipulates the instruments while observing on a video screen the images transmitted by the camera.
An instrument designed for endoscopic surgery includes a thin, elongated barrel with a tool for cutting, suturing or the like at one end and a control handle for manipulating the tool at the other end. The tool is inserted into the body through one of the small incisions and the surgeon manipulates the tool by means of the handle.
A tool currently used for suturing during endoscopic surgery includes at one end movable jaws, for grasping and releasing a needle, and at the opposite end a scissor-like control handle, which is used to open and close the jaws and to move the needle. The surgeon grasps the needle by closing the jaws around it. She then inserts the needle into and through the tissue requiring suturing and opens the jaws to release the needle. Next, she uses the same instrument or another, similar tool to grasp the needle and pull it through the tissue. She then repeats the movements, as necessary, to complete the suturing procedure.
Throughout the suturing procedure, the surgeon has to release and re-grasp the needle a number of times. Each time the surgeon re-grasps the needle, she must be sure that it is positioned and oriented correctly within the jaws, so that she is then ready to insert the needle into and through the tissue to make another stitch. Accordingly, the surgeon must first determine the position and orientation of the needle in the jaws. This is difficult, because her only view of the needle and the instrument is via a two-dimensional image transmitted by the camera. Next, she must adjust the needle within the jaws, as necessary, which is difficult because the jaws only open and close.
Further, the surgeon must be sure that she does not drop the needle, since the needle may be difficult to locate in the transmitted image. Once a dropped needle is located, picking it up, particularly with the suturing instrument, is a challenge. Often, a special instrument, and another hand to manipulate the instrument, are required.